


Cattle

by TheAnswerIsDawn



Category: Firefly
Genre: Angst, Gen, prisoners of war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-18 23:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2366564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAnswerIsDawn/pseuds/TheAnswerIsDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see sky, and they remember what they are."<br/>"Is it bad that what she said made perfect sense to me?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cattle

Sometimes, in those early days, it is hard to remember what it is to live. Between the cold walls of the Alliance internment camp, Mal finds his mind wandering sleepless in the night, numb creeping in over too-much-feeling until everything is blank and he forgets to blink. Hours in the dark are spent staring, a faded canvas where thoughts play out in a stupor, wading sluggishly through mud until strong hands shaking him bring eyes burning back into focus. Zoe stares at him, crouched on the floor beside their bunk, and the look in her eyes takes a hammer to the numb: plaster cracking, raining dry down his throat until he chokes on air, until the walls bleed from bloodshot eyes. And the thoughts come flooding back, and sometimes the words that ring in his ears are his own, and sometimes they are Zoe’s, and sometimes there are no words, just the heaviness that settles in his stomach and a foul taste that coats his throat and steals his voice. _They will get out of here, one day, but they will have no home to go to_.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had a lot of Mal & Zoe feels about the cow quote from Safe, and how it might relate to their experiences after the War.


End file.
